Monthly Archives: July 2020
Next Up: The Black Death?
I got a number of nice comments on my dryer repair kludge. Thanks.
I did have another, less kludgey idea, but it would have taken me longer to get it up and running since I didn’t have all the parts. But I still may implement it later if I have to open it up again. In fact I went ahead and ordered one from Amazon today to have it on hand.
My idea was to use a 120VAC relay with the coil controlled from a tap off the power being fed to the heating element. This relay would then pull in when the heating element came on, putting power to the blower motor.
I did consider just powering the blower directly from heating element feed, and it probably would have worked, but I was a little leery about the increased load on the heater timer contacts, even thought the fan motor doesn’t draw very much.
Now on the WuFlu front –
Coronavirus immunity can be ‘short-lived,’ expert warns
A British immunologist warned Monday that immunity to the coronavirus could be ” rather short-lived” and individuals shouldn’t rely on that alone to cope with the infectious disease.
Danny Altmann, a professor of immunology at Imperial College London, told CNBC that only 10 to 15 percent of the population of a town or city is likely to be immune to COVID-19.
“And immunity to this thing looks rather fragile — it looks like some people might have antibodies for a few months and then it might wane, so it’s not looking like a safe bet,” he told the network. “It’s a very deceitful virus and immunity to it is very confusing and rather short-lived.”
This reinforces what Dr. Fauci said a couple of days ago when he openly questioned the efficacy of any ‘vaccine’, saying any immunity acquired might only last a few months to a year.
Of course, at that point, it’s not a ‘vaccine’, it’s a just a yearly flu shot.
This, however, doesn’t bode well for the residents in Pennsylvania, where the governor said that he expects the state to stay in lockdown, with masks always required, until there’s a vaccine.
Rut Roh.
DNA Inherited From Neanderthals May Increase Risk of Covid-19
So contagious, even a cave man can catch it!, I guess.
Very reassuring since the Chinese government did such a GREAT! job handling the initial outbreak of the WuFlu in their country.
Or course, bubonic plague (Black Death) is readily treatable with modern antibiotics, but still.
Finally –
WuFlu Deaths
April 6th 1,212
May 6th 2,701
June 6th 725
July 6th 244
Anyone else notice a pattern here.
Another in our Where We Were 11 Years Ago Today series.
July 7, 2009
Enola Gay and Enterprise…
This morning we visited the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy part of the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.
It’s out by Washington – Dulles Airport and only about 10 miles from our RV park, so it was a quick drive, or at least as quick as you can get anywhere around DC. But since the museum did not open until 10 am we stopped off for breakfast at IHOP on the way.
This place is just amazing. Everywhere you look there are airplanes.
The planes are on 3 different levels, floor level, and hanging from two different levels above. There are two levels of catwalks that get you at eye-level to the upper ones.
When you first walk in and look down, the first thing you see is an SR-71 Blackbird.
I always enjoy seeing planes that I worked on when I was with a Department of Defense contractor, and this is one of them. I got to play with one of these at Otis AFB on Cape Cod, MA after it had a problem coming back from a flight over Russia.
Seeing a UH-1 Huey gives me mixed feelings since I was on one when it went down, but I survived, so I guess it’s OK.
I worked on the A-6 Intruders at England AFB in Alexandria, LA.
I worked on F-4B, C and D models at the Marine Corps Air Station in Beaufort, SC, where the Parris Island Marine Corps Training Depot is also located.
The Enterprise never flew in space. It was first used in the Approach and Landing Tests in 1977, where the Enterprise was carried up on the back of a 747 and then released. This was done to test the landing procedures for the Shuttle as is came back from space.
I helped install some video equipment onboard the Enterprise in early 1979 when I worked for NASA at Johnson Space Center. But the further tests were cancelled and the Enterprise never flew again.
Later in ’79 it was mated with an external tank and SRB’s to test the Shuttle Launch Pad at Kennedy Space Center.
Originally the Enterprise was going to be reconfigured to actually fly in space, and would have been the second shuttle to fly after Columbia. However changes in the Shuttle design after the Enterprise was built made it uneconomical.
Then, after the Challenger explosion in 1986, it was once again considered for retrofit to flight status. But once again it was decided it would be cheaper to construct the Atlantis from spare parts.
So that’s how the Enterprise ended up in the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum.
They also have the ‘Enola Gay’, the B-29 that dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan.
This is the Hiller Flying Platform.
I never worked on one of these; they were tested in the mid ’50’s, but I always wanted one. I had a flying model of one, but it didn’t fly very well.
Of course, neither did the real one, which is why it was cancelled and never produced.
They also had a Concord supersonic airliner there.
It’s so big I couldn’t get it all in one shot. I’m still wondering how they got it in the building.
And this is a copy of the “Sounds of Earth” recording that was sent into space on the two Voyager spacecraft in 1977 that eventually traveled beyond the solar system and out into deep space.
It contained pictures, greetings in 55 different languages, and music.
I had no problem with this.
I did have a problem with the fact that, along with the recording, they also told where we are located in the galaxy.
This is very dumb!
Remember “To Serve Man” is a cookbook. (If you don’t get this reference, let me know).
We had a great time at the Hazy Center and saw some very unusual planes. Sometime this week we look forward to visiting the other part of the Air & Space Museum that’s located in downtown Washington, DC at the Smithsonian.
Tomorrow we plan to ride the Metro train into DC, take one or more bus tours, and visit some of the monuments.
Hopefully we won’t experience a repeat of the crash a couple of weeks ago that killed 9 people.
Especially since we will be riding the same Red Line route.
Thought For The Day:
The Pyramids were built by slaves. Tear them down now!
Another Day, Another Kludge . . .
Recently the dryer part of our 21 year old Splendide washer/dryer quit drying. Well, kind of.
The heater part was still heating, but the blower part quit blowing. So I pulled the unit out of its cubbyhole and popped the top off. Then the first thing I did was to spin the little fan on top of the blower unit, expecting it to be seized up like the last one was about 10 years ago. But it spun freely.
So maybe the motor was burned out. But when I checked the continuity across the motor terminals, I got the 7.5 ohms that the manual specified. So I hooked my voltmeter up to the wires coming into the motor. And got only about 50 volts, not the 120VAC I was expecting.
Tracing the wires back, I found they went right to the timer switch that directly controls the dryer. So now it was time to get on the phone with Westland Sales, the Splendide tech support/parts people to ask some questions, and order a new 88°C thermostat.
When I told the guy my problem he first ask me if the dryer timer was working and counting off the correct amount of time. When I told him yes, and that it was also turning on the heating coil like it was supposed to, he told that it was a known problem and that the contacts inside the timer had started to come apart. And he said that new timers were not available anymore, which is what I already figured.
And that even if I did find one, it was really a PITA to change out. Then while I had him on the line, I ordered a new thermostat from him. Which they did have in stock.
The reason I was replacing was that I noticed that one of the terminals was kind of loose and burnt-looking. And when I got it in a few days later and tried to pull the wire off, it just came apart like this.
So I took out the two screws holding it in, leaving just this.
And then popped the new one in place and fastened it down.
But while I was waiting on the thermostat to come in, I worked on my blower problem. The first thing I did was to put 120VAC directly to the motor to test it, and it worked.
And after thinking about it for a while I came up with a solution. A kludge, but a solution. I wired a power cord directly to the motor terminals like this,
and then ran it out the back panel of the dryer.
Then I plugged it into the same outlet the washer is plugged into through one of the these Alexa WiFi controlled switches.
Now when Jan uses the dryer, she just sets the timer on the panel as normal, and then says, “Alexa, Dryer On’ and the blower motor starts up. Then when the clothes are done, she just says, “Alexa, Dryer Off’.
And if she forgets and leaves the blower running for a while it won’t hurt anything. Plus as soon as you open the washer door, you can feel it blowing so it’s hard to miss.
A kludge, but it works. And I didn’t have to spend $1300 for a new one.
At least not yet.
This was just last year when I was in the middle of my first, and so far only, sciatica attack.
July 6, 2019
So Far, So Good . . .
About 4pm Jan and I drove over to the Victory Lakes/League City Denny’s for dinner/breakfast. Normally I just have the 2 eggs, bacon, English Muffin, and fruit, but for some reason I’ve had kind of a sweet tooth the last week or two, so, uncharacteristically, I went with the Cinnamon Roll Pancakes.
Really good, but I think I’m in Sugar Overload Mode.
Then it was across the street to WalMart for a couple of things, but mostly for a temporary TENS unit like this one.
As I mentioned yesterday, I’ve got one on order from Amazon that should be here on Monday, but after reading all the raves online from people with Sciatica using a TENS unit with great success, and having such a rotten time trying to sleep last night, I didn’t want to wait two more days.
Getting home, and unusual for me, I opened the box and read the directions. But then I am connecting my body up to a battery.
But it turned out to be pretty simple. Just connect the control unit to the electrode patch, stick it in place, turn it on, and press the + button to set the output between 1 and 63.
I increased the level to about 15, to the point where I could start to feel it. But it was not a shock but more of a vibration, or buzzing. The unit runs for 30 minutes and then shuts off. They recommend letting the battery rest for 5-10 minutes before restarting.
The unit seems to cycle in 15 second intervals, starting slow and light, and getting stronger and quicker.
I did start it up, and laid down for a couple of hours, and felt fine. But tonight will be the real test. I’m going to bump it up to 30 and see if I can get through the night without the burning pain?
We’ll see.
By the way, I also picked up a package of the refills.
Turns out the refills are just new electrode patches to use when the sticky wears off the first one. Seems like that’s what duck tape should be for.
Also, when I was checking this unit out online, I found a wide variation in pricing. While WalMart had it for $28.88, Walgreen’s had it for $39.99. And WalMart has the refill pack for $9.88, at Walgreen’s it’s $15.99.
So shop around.
If these things work, I’ll probably use both of them at various times, especially since the IcyHot version has no wires to get in the way when I’m out and about.
Thought for the Day:
Nobody realizes the tremendous energy I expend every day merely to appear normal.
